Analysis of the role of associative inhibition in perceptual learning by means of the same-different task.
In Experiment 1a, participants were exposed, over a series of trials, to separate presentations of 2 similar checkerboard stimuli, AX and BX (where X represents a common background). In one group, AX and BX were presented on alternating trials (intermixed), in another, they were presented in separate blocks of trials (blocked). The intermixed group performed to a higher standard than the blocked group on a same-different test. A superiority of intermixed over blocked exposure was also evident in a within-subject design (Experiment 1b) and when the test required discrimination between a preexposed stimulus and the background (e.g., AX vs. X), even if the background changed between preexposure and test (AY vs. Y) (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, the intermixed/blocked effect was observed when, in preexposure, stimulus presentations were alternated with the background alone (e.g., AX/X). This suggests that the perceptual learning effect is not the consequence of inhibitory associations between unique features but to increased salience of those features. Experiment 4 confirmed this finding and also ruled out an account of the effect in terms of trial spacing.
Mitchell
Chris
C
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. chris.mitchell@unsw.edu.au
Kadib
Raja
R
Nash
Scott
S
Lavis
Yvonna
Y
Hall
Geoffrey
G
D001245:Association Learning; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D014796:Visual Perception